By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
A grateful community will gather from far and wide April 19 for An Evening With Marie.
The lady of the title is Marie Anderson who, since moving to the community in the late 1980s, has left an indelible mark on many lives and elevated the quality of musicianship practiced and performed on stages local and abroad.
It is significant that Anderson has nothing to do with putting the tribute together. It is coming from the people who have had the benefit of the gifts she has shared so generously.
Two of the key players are Val Russell and Barb Henderson, parents of young vocalists who performed in the remarkable choir Anderson founded with Deirdre Morrell known as La Jeunesse.
Henderson said the idea for the tribute came when she and a friend saw Anderson at a performance of another of her choirs known as Safe Harbour, during which she announced her retirement.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘We can’t let her walk out like that.’” was the reaction.
And so was born the idea of a tribute concert, An Evening With Marie. While Anderson is a past Cobourg Civic Award winner and was given a Paul Harris Fellowship by the Rotary Club of Cobourg, this is a more personal show of gratitude for the woman who has not only shaped hundreds of lives through her work but brought the joy of music to audiences literally around the world.
“We decided this had to happen,” Russell stated.
Russell and Henderson contacted some past members to discuss the idea, and found everyone was enthusiastic. Through a Facebook page, they reached out to members and former members of all the arts organizations Anderson either founded or put her stamp on, including La Jeunesse and Northumberland Players.
“We feel this is a really big deal because she has given so much to the community,” Russell stated.
It was soon after she moved from Kingston that she co-founded La Jeunesse with Morrell, and it continues today. It began as a girls’ choir and widened its sphere over the years not only to include boys, but to include children as young as seven and eight years old.
Over the course of 18 years, Russell had three children in the choir. Much like any parent with children in sports, the La Jeunesse parents pitched in behind the scenes, especially with fundraising.
“We did all the bingos, we did all the musicals, and all those things because of Marie and Deirdre,” she recalled.
Over the years, the choir performed outside their home community, and eventually travelled to Europe for exchange visits and music festivals from which they brought home medals.
And the excellence imparted was more than musical. Henderson recalls how her daughter later auditioned for the Elmer Iseler Singers, a professional choir.
“After the first rehearsal, they said, ‘You were in a choir before, weren’t you?’ She said she’d been in La Jeunesse, and they said, ‘That explains it.’”
Russell’s children went on to the music program at Wilfred Laurier University and had similar experiences.
Choir members seemed to come out of the experience with life-long lessons and values, Henderson said.
And among the choir alumni are two members of the Good Lovelies, an opera singer who has travelled throughout Europe, and a choral conductor in Newfoundland. And, of course, over the course of 35 years, inevitably there are now second-generation choir members.
Russell recalls dozens of Northumberland Players musicals Anderson was involved with, and how people who thought it might be fun to audition got more than they bargained for.
“If she heard something in your voice, she would work with those people until they were accomplished,” Russell recalled.
“Northumberland Players musicals were pretty damn good, and a lot of that credit should go to her – she was vocal director over and over again.”
Anderson also had a stint taking over the Oriana Singers, and – with Shannon Linton and Henderson – founded the local SONG organization. Sounds of the Next Generation is designed to offer free socially inclusive after-school music programming for children and youth in a program that offers vocal and instrumental tutelage – supplying the instruments, music, uniforms and snacks as well.
Then, in order to support SONG and its work, Anderson established the Safe Harbour group as their adult mentorship choir.
“And she still teaches,” Russell added.
“She runs a studio in Kingston and one in her home here.”
An Evening With Marie happens April 19 at Trinity United Church, where so many La Jeunesse concerts took place. It will be followed by a reception.
A special Facebook page has been spreading the word, and those accepting invitations so far include musicians Brad Halls, Brian Finley, George Lee and Andy Thompson (who will provide some of the accompaniments).
Choir director Anna Mastin is pitching in on the background work for the show, finding the music, digitizing it, sending it out to all the performers. Dress rehearsal is the Saturday afternoon, Russell said, and it will no doubt also be the scene of many joyous reunions.
Henderson will be master of ceremonies for the whole event, but former members and performers are being designated to speak on their own experiences at designated points in the program.
The call is still going out for former choir members to sign up to be part of the show. If you aren’t on Facebook, you can e-mail Russell at timvalrussell@gmail.com – though the Facebook page has some wonderful surprises like old photographs and programs. Organizers are working on gathering some of these for a memorabilia display at the concert.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. event are $20, for audience members and performers – not just to cover expenses, Russell said, but to set up a scholarship in Anderson’s name.
It will be hers to give as she decides, whether it’s a young person who cannot otherwise afford to join La Jeunesse, to allow a promising young musician to take piano lessons, to help a budding musician pursue studies at university, or whatever way she feels it might be best put to use.
And going forward, the scholarship fund will be supported by the Safe Harbour choir, probably with one special concert a year.
Tickets are available at the door, or you can get them in advance at www.nplay.ca/marie
